Average reading scale score and standard deviation, by sex, race/ethnicity, percentile, and grade: Selected years, 1992 through 2011

Race/ethnicity, percentile, and grade

19921

19941

1998

2000

2002

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

Total

Male

Female

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Average reading scale score2

All students

4th grade

217

(0.9)

214

(1.0)

215

(1.1)

213

(1.3)

219

(0.4)

218

(0.3)

219

(0.2)

221

(0.3)

221

(0.3)

221

(0.3)

218

(0.3)

225

(0.3)

8th grade

260

(0.9)

260

(0.8)

263

(0.8)

—

(†)

264

(0.4)

263

(0.3)

262

(0.2)

263

(0.2)

264

(0.3)

265

(0.2)

261

(0.3)

270

(0.2)

12th grade

292

(0.6)

287

(0.7)

290

(0.6)

—

(†)

287

(0.7)

—

(†)

286

(0.6)

—

(†)

288

(0.7)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

Race/ethnicity

4th grade

White

224

(1.2)

224

(1.3)

225

(1.0)

224

(1.1)

229

(0.3)

229

(0.2)

229

(0.2)

231

(0.2)

230

(0.3)

231

(0.2)

228

(0.3)

234

(0.3)

Black

192

(1.7)

185

(1.8)

193

(1.9)

190

(1.8)

199

(0.5)

198

(0.4)

200

(0.3)

203

(0.4)

205

(0.5)

205

(0.5)

200

(0.5)

210

(0.6)

Hispanic

197

(2.6)

188

(3.4)

193

(3.2)

190

(2.9)

201

(1.3)

200

(0.6)

203

(0.5)

205

(0.5)

205

(0.5)

206

(0.5)

203

(0.7)

209

(0.6)

Asian/Pacific Islander

216

(2.9)

220

(3.8)

215

(5.6)

225

(5.2)

224

(1.6)

226

(1.2)

229

(0.7)

232

(1.0)

235

(1.0)

235

(1.2)

231

(1.3)

238

(1.6)

Asian

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

236

(1.3)

233

(1.3)

239

(1.6)

Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

216

(1.9)

213

(3.1)

219

(2.9)

American Indian/ Alaska Native

‡

(†)

211

(6.6)

‡

(†)

214

(6.0)

207

(2.0)

202

(1.4)

204

(1.3)

203

(1.2)

204

(1.3)

202

(1.3)

196

(1.9)

208

(1.6)

8th grade

White

267

(1.1)

267

(1.0)

270

(0.9)

—

(†)

272

(0.4)

272

(0.2)

271

(0.2)

272

(0.2)

273

(0.2)

274

(0.2)

269

(0.3)

279

(0.3)

Black

237

(1.7)

236

(1.8)

244

(1.2)

—

(†)

245

(0.7)

244

(0.5)

243

(0.4)

245

(0.4)

246

(0.4)

249

(0.5)

243

(0.6)

254

(0.5)

Hispanic

241

(1.6)

243

(1.2)

243

(1.7)

—

(†)

247

(0.8)

245

(0.7)

246

(0.4)

247

(0.4)

249

(0.6)

252

(0.5)

249

(0.6)

256

(0.6)

Asian/Pacific Islander

268

(3.9)

265

(3.0)

264

(7.1)

—

(†)

267

(1.7)

270

(1.1)

271

(0.8)

271

(1.1)

274

(1.1)

275

(1.0)

271

(1.0)

280

(1.3)

Asian

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

277

(1.0)

273

(1.1)

282

(1.4)

Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

254

(2.2)

247

(2.8)

260

(3.2)

American Indian/ Alaska Native

‡

(†)

248

(4.7)

‡

(†)

—

(†)

250

(3.5)

246

(3.0)

249

(1.4)

247

(1.2)

251

(1.2)

252

(1.2)

247

(1.6)

256

(1.8)

12th grade

White

297

(0.6)

293

(0.7)

297

(0.7)

—

(†)

292

(0.7)

—

(†)

293

(0.7)

—

(†)

296

(0.6)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

Black

273

(1.4)

265

(1.6)

269

(1.4)

—

(†)

267

(1.3)

—

(†)

267

(1.2)

—

(†)

269

(1.1)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

Hispanic

279

(2.7)

270

(1.7)

275

(1.5)

—

(†)

273

(1.5)

—

(†)

272

(1.2)

—

(†)

274

(1.0)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

Asian/Pacific Islander

290

(3.2)

278

(2.4)

287

(2.7)

—

(†)

286

(2.0)

—

(†)

287

(1.9)

—

(†)

298

(2.4)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

American Indian/ Alaska Native

‡

(†)

274

(5.8)

‡

(†)

—

(†)

‡

(†)

—

(†)

279

(6.3)

—

(†)

283

(3.7)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

Percentile3

4th grade

10th

170

(1.9)

159

(1.5)

163

(2.1)

159

(2.3)

170

(0.9)

169

(0.5)

171

(0.4)

174

(0.4)

175

(0.5)

174

(0.4)

169

(0.5)

180

(0.4)

25th

194

(1.1)

189

(1.1)

191

(1.7)

189

(1.4)

196

(0.5)

195

(0.4)

196

(0.3)

199

(0.3)

199

(0.4)

200

(0.4)

196

(0.4)

203

(0.5)

50th

219

(1.3)

219

(1.3)

217

(1.3)

218

(1.7)

221

(0.5)

221

(0.3)

221

(0.2)

224

(0.3)

223

(0.3)

224

(0.3)

221

(0.5)

227

(0.4)

75th

242

(1.1)

243

(1.3)

242

(0.9)

243

(0.8)

244

(0.5)

244

(0.3)

244

(0.3)

246

(0.3)

245

(0.3)

246

(0.3)

243

(0.4)

248

(0.4)

90th

261

(1.4)

263

(1.7)

262

(0.9)

262

(1.4)

263

(0.4)

264

(0.3)

263

(0.3)

264

(0.4)

264

(0.3)

264

(0.4)

262

(0.3)

267

(0.5)

8th grade

10th

213

(1.2)

211

(1.9)

216

(1.7)

—

(†)

220

(0.5)

217

(0.6)

216

(0.3)

217

(0.4)

219

(0.5)

221

(0.3)

215

(0.4)

227

(0.6)

25th

237

(1.1)

236

(1.1)

241

(0.7)

—

(†)

244

(0.5)

242

(0.3)

240

(0.2)

242

(0.3)

243

(0.4)

244

(0.3)

240

(0.4)

249

(0.4)

50th

262

(1.1)

262

(0.7)

266

(0.7)

—

(†)

267

(0.5)

266

(0.3)

265

(0.2)

265

(0.2)

267

(0.3)

267

(0.2)

263

(0.4)

271

(0.3)

75th

285

(0.8)

286

(1.1)

288

(1.0)

—

(†)

288

(0.4)

288

(0.3)

286

(0.2)

287

(0.2)

288

(0.4)

289

(0.3)

284

(0.3)

293

(0.3)

90th

305

(1.3)

305

(1.2)

306

(0.8)

—

(†)

305

(0.5)

306

(0.2)

305

(0.2)

305

(0.2)

305

(0.4)

307

(0.2)

302

(0.5)

311

(0.4)

12th grade

10th

249

(0.8)

239

(0.9)

240

(0.6)

—

(†)

237

(1.5)

—

(†)

235

(1.1)

—

(†)

238

(0.8)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

25th

271

(0.8)

264

(0.9)

267

(0.8)

—

(†)

263

(1.3)

—

(†)

262

(0.8)

—

(†)

264

(0.8)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

50th

294

(0.8)

290

(0.6)

293

(0.6)

—

(†)

289

(0.7)

—

(†)

288

(0.8)

—

(†)

291

(0.7)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

75th

315

(0.5)

313

(0.8)

317

(0.7)

—

(†)

312

(0.6)

—

(†)

313

(1.1)

—

(†)

315

(0.9)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

90th

333

(0.7)

332

(1.2)

336

(0.8)

—

(†)

332

(0.9)

—

(†)

333

(1.1)

—

(†)

335

(0.9)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

Standard deviation4 of the reading scale score

All students

4th grade

36

(0.6)

41

(0.6)

39

(0.7)

42

(0.9)

36

(0.3)

37

(0.2)

36

(0.1)

36

(0.2)

35

(0.2)

36

(0.1)

37

(0.2)

35

(0.2)

8th grade

36

(0.3)

37

(0.4)

35

(0.5)

—

(†)

34

(0.3)

35

(0.2)

35

(0.1)

35

(0.2)

34

(0.2)

34

(0.1)

35

(0.2)

33

(0.2)

12th grade

33

(0.4)

37

(0.5)

38

(0.4)

—

(†)

37

(0.4)

—

(†)

38

(0.4)

—

(†)

38

(0.3)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—

(†)

—Not available.

†Not applicable.

‡Reporting standards not met (too few cases).

1 Accommodations were not permitted for this assessment.

2 Scale ranges from 0 to 500.

3 The percentile represents a specific point on the percentage distribution of all students ranked by their reading score from low to high. For example, 10 percent of students scored at or below the 10th percentile score, while 90 percent of students scored above it.

4 The standard deviation provides an indication of how much the test scores varied. The lower the standard deviation, the closer the scores were clustered around the average score. About two-thirds of the student scores can be expected to fall within the range of one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the average score. For example, the average score for all 4th-graders in 2011 was 221, and the standard deviation was 36. This means that we would expect about two-thirds of the students to have scores between 257 (one standard deviation above the average) and 185 (one standard deviation below). Standard errors also must be taken into account when making comparisons of these ranges. For a discussion of standard errors, see Appendix A: Guide to Sources.

NOTE: Includes public and private schools. For 1998 and later years, includes students tested with accommodations (1 to 10 percent of all students, depending on grade level and year); excludes only those students with disabilities and English language learners who were unable to be tested even with accommodations (2 to 6 percent of all students). Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Standard errors appear in parentheses.